Ireland is becoming very linguistically diverse, as revealed by the analysis made by the Irish Times, where it was shown, based on the data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), that over 182 languages are spoken in homes in Ireland. The highest percentage of non-English speakers are in Fingal, which is in north Dublin, according to the results. Lithuanian, French and Polish are the languages commonly spoken by non-English speakers in the area. On the other hand, Donegal has the least number of non-English speakers.
It was learned that Polish is the most common language spoken across Ireland except for
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, where French is the most commonly spoken language. Based on the latest census figures, there are 119,526 Polish speakers in Ireland and 10,573 of them were born in the country. Polish is followed by French with 56,430 speakers while those whose first language is Lithuanian is third, with 31,635 speakers.
Arabic, Portuguese, Latvian, Chinese, Romanian, Spanish, Russian and German are the other major languages that are commonly spoken. There are also about 1,000 people in Ireland who speak Shona, which is the main language of Zimbabwe. There are also people from the Ivory Coast and Ghana who speak Akan.
Overall, the 2011 census had recorded that there are 182 different languages that are spoken in Ireland beside English and Irish. However, assistant professor in applied linguistics from the Trinity College, Dr. Lorna Carson believes that the number of languages spoken in Dublin alone could reach 200, although many of them are hidden. She based this on her research on Dublin’s multilingualism whereby there was about a 143 percent increase in foreign nationals arriving and residing in Ireland between 2002 and 2011. The immigrants came from 199 countries and represent about 12 percent of Ireland’s total population.
Dr. Carson warns however that the government should encourage the development of foreign languages or they would disappear within two decades. She says that about 25 percent of the people who speak a foreign language in Ireland have been born in the country, which enriches the country’s culture, citing the many benefits of multilingualism. It should also be taken as an encouragement for the native Irish people to improve their foreign language skills.
For these immigrants, they had to learn to speak English to be able to socialize with native Irish people. Still, they retained their mother tongue and taught them to their children.
In Scoil Bhríde primary school which is located in Blanchardstown, Dublin, about 82 percent of the students are from immigrant families and collectively, they speak 51 languages. The school encourages the students and parents to use their native languages as well as show their skills in Irish and English. According to the school’s principal, Deirdre Kirwan, it is good to allow people to express themselves in their own cultural heritage and language because it helps create social cohesion. It also helped the indigenous Irish students raise the status of the Irish language.
Since Ireland is becoming linguistically diverse, it has the potential to be a force in the global market where linguistic abilities are much-sought after. Employers see this is a positive sign, since their different backgrounds bring about a broader perspective when it comes to dealing with everyday situations in the workplace and in dealing with customers.
Image Copyright: A village on Irish Antrim Coast, Ireland by gretalorenz / 123RF Stock Photo
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